[mcdude]

From the Laconia Citizen

Bobby's Girl Diner will soon become a member of the Common Man family of restaurants after being purchased at auction for $310,000.

Common Man owner Alex Ray made the winning bid of $310,000 at the foreclosure auction of the building on Route 104 in New Hampton on Tuesday.

The diner was put up for auction at noon on Tuesday by Meredith Village Savings Bank and auctioneer Paul McInnis, with the winning bid purchasing the building, property, and fixtures and furnishings.

The 3,100-square-foot restaurant property at 752 Route 104 had an assessed value of $495,950.

Bobby's Girl Diner had been in operation since 1994 and the deed had been listed to Ronald and Mary Elliard since May 16, 2003.

Earlier this summer, the Elliard family announced that it was leaving the business.

The family said that because of changes in zoning they were no longer able to develop the close to 12 acres that the diner now sits on. Because further development was hindered, they could no longer afford to operate the business.

The diner itself was made in 1956 by the Worcester Diner Co. and originally opened up in Johnston, R.I. as Lloyd's. The diner was later moved to Bridgehampton, N.Y. but eventually sat on blocks for three years. The diner then moved to New Hampshire where it was restored and opened as Bobby's Girl Diner on Sept. 26, 1994.

Over 25 prospective owners and other interested people attended the Tuesday auction and had the opportunity to look through the building before the sale.

Bidding began at $250,000 and eventually reached $300,000. A call for $325,000 was reduced to $310,000 after slow bidding. Ray bid $310,000, winning the property.

Ray said he wants to bring the diner back, aiming to have it open around Aug. 15.

"I think it's all about management; it's about the location," Ray said. "It needs some spunk."

The Common Man family currently includes two diners, the Tilt'n Diner in Tilton and the Airport Diner in Manchester. Ray said the diners require a different approach than the rest of the Common Man restaurants and the diners under the Common Man ownership will be managed separately.

"My focus is to have someone we know very well head up the diner division so we can do it in a professional manner," he said.

Ray said the diner is already "in our neck of the woods" and located at the gateway to the White Mountains.

"It is a break point to and from (Exit 23)," he said.

Ray said diners provided his first interest in the food industry. He said he remembered spending time at Paul's Family Diner in Denville, N.J., in 1953 when he was 8 years old, going for fries and a Coke after doing his paper route.